power user

Yesterday I stumbled upon a couple of quotes in an article, where the author tried to give succinct and generalized definitions to the terms a lot of people throw around in their everyday lives.

Those are "normal users" and "power users".

I loved his take on this topic so much, that I decided to adapt those into English and share it here (the original article was in another language).

Behold:

Normal users have goals. They achieve those goals. But sometimes they need to expand their abilities to do so.

Power users act the other way around: they expand their abilities to fit the future goals within those.

I strongly believe these don't just describe "computer users" and "geeks", but fit any area of the "real world" as well, be it construction, civil engineering, woodworking, sports – you name it.

They all follow similar principles:

One user has just the basic tools and knowledge and only wishes to learn and expand the inventory whenever necessary to reach the goals. Whereas the other one has a garage full of power tools, gear and materials and an extensive knowledge developed not strictly while achieving the goals, but rather as a general interest in the area of expertise (like a hobby or a job you really, really enjoy and try to stay several steps ahead of the competition) to later have confidence in being able to solve problems without feeling "helpless" or inexperienced.

Both approaches are viable and it all comes down to preference and life experience.